Mercedes Power Leads The Way On Opening Day At Zandvoort

Back on track after the summer break, the performance levels of the top four teams seem to be as close as they were in the first part of the season, or at least from the Miami Grand Prix onwards. At the end of this first day of practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, the 15th of 24 races on this year’s calendar, the five fastest drivers were covered by less than three tenths of a second, or 284 thousandths to be precise. Quickest was Russell (Mercedes, 1’10”702), followed by Piastri (McLaren, 1’10”763) and their respective team-mates, Hamilton third in 1’10”813 and Norris fourth in 1’10”961. The fifth and last driver to get under the 1’11” barrier was local hero Max Verstappen (1’10”986). Of the leading teams, Ferrari was not amongst the quickest, with Leclerc (1’11”443, ninth) unable to make the most of the Softs in the usual qualifying simulation, while Sainz’s second session ended after just seven laps as he returned to the garage with a technical problem.

Very changeable weather conditions played their part, to the extent that all five types of tyre brought to Zandvoort were called into play. The first session began in the rain with the track battered by very strong winds, with gusts exceeding 85 km/h. 17 of the drivers even tested track conditions with the extreme wets, before joining the only three abstentions – Verstappen, Hamilton and Ocon – on the intermediates. After half an hour, conditions improved enough for a switch to slicks, with nine of the ten teams opting for the Soft, while both Ferrari drivers went for the Medium.

The Dutch summer displayed its better side in the second session with sun putting in an appearance as the wind diminished in strength. The teams were thus able to resume the usual Friday programme, focussed on comparing the three dry tyre compounds. The vast majority worked with the Medium and Soft, while Gasly (Alpine), Albon (Williams), Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Magnussen (Haas) used the Soft and Hard.

George Russell – Fastest in FP2

“It was good to get back in the car and into the swing of things with the first day of running here in Zandvoort. It was difficult out there due to the windy conditions. It is perhaps the windiest conditions I can remember driving an F1 car in over the past few years. Nevertheless, the car was performing really well and the updated floor we brought to Spa seemed to be working effectively.

“The pack at the front seems to be quite close once again. We expect to be facing another fascinating battle across the rest of the weekend for the podium spots. That said, it could all be very different tomorrow as the conditions likely change once again. I’m excited to get back in the car tomorrow and see what we can do.”

Lando Norris – Fastest in FP1

“A pleasing first day back on track. We made some good progress, and the car is in a strong position ahead of Quali tomorrow. It’s close towards the front of the pack, so we’ll be working hard overnight as a team to get everything out of our package.”

Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport

“This first day was partially affected by the changing weather conditions, so there was not much useful data to be gathered from the first session, but much more was acquired in the second one. At first glance, we can say that all three dry compounds seem to be viable for use in the race. With the track conditions and temperatures experienced in FP2, the C1 proved to be very competitive and consistent, with the C2 not far off in terms of performance, as predicted in simulations prior to the weekend, with a difference of around eight to nine tenths between the Soft and the Medium and four tenths between the Medium and the Hard. The C3 demonstrated higher degradation, but not to the point of ruling it out as an option for Sunday’s race, also because there was no sign of graining.

“One interesting point will be seeing how the grip from the track surface evolves over the next two days. It is meant to rain tomorrow morning which, combined with the wind, should reset the conditions a bit. But the forecast is better for qualifying and for the race, which should be run in similar conditions to those in FP2, although track temperature could be a few degrees higher.”